Answer: About two kilos!
There are three things about this ‘joke’ that I need to say:
1. It is in extremely poor taste.
2. A ‘ding’, for our younger readers benefit, refers to an Italian immigrant.
3. This was typical of the sort of jokes we Australian’s told as part of our objection to allowing Italian immigrants into our country.
Welcome to Australia 1960.
Ask any senior member of our Italian community and they will relate to – a remember vividly - these jokes and stories that made, for so many of them, a miserable welcome to life in Australia.
Imagine these people coming here and wanting to introduce ‘disgusting’ foods like garlic, pizza, pasta and also tailored clothing to us Aussies? I can recall my Mum telling us one evening – as we gagged on those appalling over-boiled vegies and roast beef – that, “These Eye-ties even want to sit outside on the footpath when at a restaurant, and call it al fresco dining; whatever that means”.
Fast forward to 1975 and Australia was witnessing the first intake of Vietnamese refugees. I had just arrived back in Perth from living in London and was sitting at one of Perth’s new Al fresco cafes that were starting to open-up everywhere. And the topic was the growing concern about these Vietnamese boat people taking over our country. Different skin colour this time, but the same concerns and the same worries about their differences to our way of life.
Now it’s 2012 and as we celebrate ‘Harmony Week’ many Australian’s are again worried about immigration and multiculturalism issues as more asylum seekers seek a new life in our land. Muslim immigration is the new ‘threat’ in Europe and the UK. Yet thousands of Muslim families live in complete harmony amongst us here in Australia. Sure they might go to a Mosque to pray on Friday afternoons, but so what?
In the meantime, the Italians have built some of our finest homes in Perth, and brought us changes to our diet that has delighted us. The Vietnamese represent almost 40% of our horticulture industry, and without whom our fresh vegies would need to be trucked in from the east coast, and the Chinese and Indians are building businesses here and exporting products and foods from Australia back to their respective birthplaces, and in doing so create jobs and significant export opportunities for our nation.
Yet the argument against a multicultural Australia persists. It was even promoted by some of Australia’s most prominent thinkers and historians including Geoffrey Blainey, who wrote that, “multiculturalism threatens to transform Australia into a cluster of tribes”.
Blainey was probably half right. Immigrants do form ‘clusters’ in those initial years, but over time they, and in particular their children, start to integrate into mainstream society.
So is it simply a case that we ‘true Aussies’ are just a bunch of racists who, enraged by some of our most high-profile people, blame ethnic and culturally different people for everything that goes wrong in our wonderful county? Not at all.
In fact, over many years of travel, my view is that Aussies are amongst the most tolerant people on this planet. Naive and a little xenophobic at times, but bitter racists? No.
Just look to our north. A few years ago in Malaysia it was not hard to find, in the ‘employment’ section of their morning newspaper, The New Straits Times, job advertisements that contained, at the bottom of the page the words... ‘People of Indian race need not apply’. Could you image that advertisement and statement appearing in The West Australian?
In other parts of our region events have taken place in recent years resulting in minority groups being ruthlessly attacked and persecuted.
Australia has mostly escaped this sought of violence, excepting the Cronulla riots in Sydney in 2005, yet we will continue to have misgivings and debates about what our country should look like in the future. This is not necessarily a bad thing providing the debate is considered and honest, and not fuelled by radio ‘shock jocks’ who would only be too happy to turn communities against each other just to improve their ratings!
In the meantime, despite these occasional misgivings, the evidence is profound that Australia is a far more mature, economically advanced, liveable and enjoyable place because of those people who decided to leave their birth place and make Australia home.
And as we enjoy our plate of nasi goreng during our next trip to Bali or at our local food hall, maybe we should be thankful for this diversity that adds colour and vibrancy to our country.
Ross Taylor is the chairman of the WA-based Indonesia Institute Inc.
March 2012
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